Bafta has apologised “unreservedly” to actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo and “all those impacted” following the racial slur and offensive language uttered involuntarily by Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson during the Bafta Film Awards on Sunday (February 22).
Read Bafta’s statement in full below.
Davidson is the subject and executive producer of I Swear, a comedy-drama directed by Kirk Jones that depicts his lifelong struggles with Tourette’s and his activism to help educate people about the condition.
He is portrayed in the film by Robert Aramayo, who was the surprise best actor winner for his role and also picked up the EE rising star award, which is voted on by the public.
Bafta explained: ”We take the duty of care to all of our guests very seriously and start from a position of inclusion”.
However, Davidson voluntarily left the room when one of his verbal tics was a “profoundly offensive term” that was heard by many people in the room and initially included in the broadcast programme and available on the BBC iPlayer through much of today.
”We would like to thank him for his dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him,” said Bafta of Davidson.
The statement added: “We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism.”
”We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this, and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”
Earlier today, the BBC released a separate statement apologising for not editing the language out of the UK TV broadcast.
Full statement from Bafta
At the BAFTA Film Awards last night, our guests heard very offensive language that carries incomparable trauma and pain for so many. We want to acknowledge the harm this has caused, address what happened and apologise to all.
One of our guests, John Davidson MBE, has Tourette Syndrome and has devoted his life to educating and campaigning for better understanding of this condition. Tourette Syndrome causes involuntary verbal tics, that the individual has no control over. Such tics are in no way a reflection of an individual’s beliefs and are not intentional. John Davidson is an executive producer of the BAFTA- nominated film, I Swear, which is based on his life experience.
We take the duty of care to all our guests very seriously and start from a position of inclusion. We took measures to make those in attendance aware of the tics, announcing to the audience before the ceremony began, and throughout, that John was in the room and that they may hear strong language, involuntary noises or movements during the ceremony.
Early in the ceremony a loud tic in the form of a profoundly offensive term was heard by many people in the room. Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time, and we apologise unreservedly to them, and to all those impacted. We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism.
During the ceremony, John chose to leave the auditorium and watch the rest of the ceremony from a screen, and we would like to thank him for his dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him.
We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this, and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.
No comments yet